STREAMING CINEMA
Lensing Early San Francisco Gay Lib
Bressan captures freshness, naiveté, countercultural vibe
Robert Adams in Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.’s “Passing Strangers.”
BY GARY M. KRAMER
Two adult classics made
in the 1970s by the late
gay fi lmmaker Arthur J.
Bressan, Jr., have been
restored for streaming on PinkLabel.
tv. “Passing Strangers” (1974)
is now available; a second, “Forbidden
Letters” (1976) will stream in
August.
“Passing Strangers” is the fi rst
feature credited to the fi lmmaker,
who died of AIDS in 1987. (His last
feature, “Buddies” (1985), was the
fi rst fi lm about AIDS.)
The story concerns Tom (Robert
Camagey), a 28-year-old gay man
living in San Francisco. He takes
out a personal ad in the Bay Area
Reporter using a quote from Walt
Whitman. The ad attracts the attention
THE BRESSAN PROJECT
of Robert (Robert Adams),
an inexperienced 18-year-old. After
exchanging a series of letters —
in one Tom asks Robert for a photo
— the guys agree to meet.
The framework allows viewers to
watch the men independently before
they connect in person. Tom
is seen cruising Polk Street and
going to the baths one afternoon.
Meanwhile, Robert masturbates
to a sexual fantasy he has involving
a half dozen naked guys and
bubbles. When they connect at a
beach, Tom and Robert fl y a kite
before they have sex under a tree.
They later ride around on their
bikes before having more sex. It is
all very stylish, and the explicit sex
is incorporated into the romance.
Bressan also includes a lengthy
sequence at San Francisco’s Gay
Freedom Day Parade that Tom and
Robert attend, which provides an
interesting time capsule.
Queer fi lm historian Jenni Olson
is the co-director of The Bressan
Project, which restored the fi lms.
She chatted with Gay City News
about “Passing Strangers.”
GARY KRAMER: In addition to
“Buddies,” Bressan made features
— “Gay USA” (1977), a documentary,
and “Abuse” (1983), a drama —
as well as adult fi lms. Can you talk
about his career as a fi lmmaker?
JENNI OLSON: He made a short
doc, “Coming Out,” in 1972, and
“Passing Strangers” incorporates
some footage from that. He shot
at Gay Freedom Day in San Francisco,
with amazing celebratory
footage and audio tracks asking
people what it’s like to be gay, and
“Are you out?” His approach is like
the Lilli Vincenz footage of Christopher
Street Liberation Day in 1970,
the fi rst pride in New York City. Her
approach was this combination of
footage without direct on-camera
➤ BRESSAN, continued on p.71
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